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17ª Divisione Fanteria "Pavia"
}}The 17th Pavia Infantry Division was a unit of the Regio Esercito (Italian Army) during World War II. It was formed in October 1939 and sent to Libya in February 1941 for defensive operations during Operation Compass. It saw extensive action in North Africa until it was finally destroyed in the Second Battle of El Alamein. It comprised of the 27th and 28th Infantry Regiments and 26th Artillery Regiment. Mechili The Pavia Division took part in General Erwin Rommel's first desert offensive in late March and April 1941. Under Major-General Pietro Zaglio, the Pavia attacked via the Balbia coastal road from Agedabia, helping force the Australian and British divisions back to Mechili. On 3 April, the 8th Bersaglieri Regiment recaptured Benghazi and advanced to Mechili, along with the advance elements from the German 5th Light Division. On 8 April, General Gambier-Parry surrendered to General Zaglio and the Pavia''A Don at War, Sir David Hunt, p. 59, Routledge, 1990after an unsuccessful breakout attempt that was broken up by the ''Fabris and Montemurro Bersaglieri Battalions that had taken up ambush positions on the night of 7/8 April. ROMMELS FIRST OFFENSIVE BY FRANK CHADWICKSome 3,000 British, Indian and Australian soldiers were captured at Mechili. With the arrival of German units, the Pavia and Brescia Divisions helped isolate and capture Bardia. The division then took part in the Siege of Tobruk, taking up positions in the southern sector of the Axis siege lines. Crusader On 19 November 1941, as part of Operatin Crusader a British column of tanks tried to advance along the track from Bir el Gubi to El Adem, but encountered strong anti-tank defences from the Pavia Division and was forced to withdraw. On 23 November, the British 70th Infantry Division with 60 supporting tanks broke through the defences of the 25th Bologna Division, but the Pavia counterattacked, restoring the broken lines. On 5 December, the Pavia Division from positions at El Adem helped cover the Axis withdrawal, delaying the advance of the 1st Battalion from the Durham Light Infantry in a night action lasting over three hours. "The operation proceeded without opposition until the 1/Durham Light Infantry had advanced some 5,000 yards. Here the Pavia Division had established a rearguard position which was tenaciously defended but overcome after midnight by an attack made in conjunction with tanks of the 32nd Army Tank Brigade." Australia in the War of 1939-1945, Volume 3, Barton Maughan, p. 509, Australian War Memorial, 1966 On 14 December, the New Zealand 22 Battalion encountered stiff resistance from the Pavia Division that counterattacked twice "At 3 a.m. on 14 December the guns opened a 15-minute concentration and the Maoris closed in with bayonets fixed, meeting mortar, MG and anti-tank fire and using grenades freely to overcome it. In little more than an hour resistance ended and C and D Companies began to dig in just west of the foremost defences, while A Company extended the position on lower ground to the east-north-east. B Company, which had advanced farthest, struck trouble, however, from another enemy position on the escarpment to the west and was twice counter-attacked. " The Relief of Tobruk, W. E. Murphy, p. 496, War History Branch, Department of Internal Affairs, 1961, before withdrawing. The New Zealanders with the help of artillery fire captured 382 soldiers from the Pavia ''in the action, but lost 3 killed and 27 wounded. On 15 December, the ''Pavia covering the Axis withdrawal from the Gazala Line successfully resists the advance of the 2nd New Zealand Division and supporting Polish Brigade, allowing Italian and German armoured forces to join and deliver a strong counterattack that overruns the 1st Battalion, The Buffs, (Royal East Kent Regiment). "The Poles and New Zealanders made good initial progress, taking several hundred Italian prisoners; but the Italians rallied well, and by noon it was clear to General Alfred Godwin-Austen that his two brigades lacked the weight to achieve a breakthrough on the right flank. It was the same story in the centre, where the Italians of ‘Trieste’ continued to repulse 5th Indian Brigade’s attack on Point 208. By mid-afternoon the III Corps attack had been fought to a halt all along the line." Crusader: Eighth Army’s Forgotten Victory, November 1941-January 1942, Richard Humble, p. 187, Leo Cooper, 1987 El Gazala On 16 June 1942, the Pavia ''took part in the mopping-up operations following the Battle of Knightsbridge, with 6,000 British Commonwealth soldiers falling into Italian hands."The Italians finished mopping up the Gazala Line on June 16, capturing 6,000 prisoners, thousands of tons of supplies, and entire convoys of undamaged vehicles in the process" The Rise of the Wehrmacht: The German Armed Forces and World War, 2 Volumes, p.564, Samuel W. Mitcham, Praeger, 2008 El Alamein The division took part in the First Battle of El Alamein as part of the Italian 10th Corps. During the initial phase of the fighting the ''Pavia served as part of the rearguard for the Ariete Armoured Division where, according to US Army Colonel Conrad H. Lanza, the division repulsed the advance of the Maoris of the New Zealand 23rd Battalion with a night counterattack. Corporal Pasquale Franchi from the Pavia would posthumously win the Medaglia d'Argento al Valore Militare for his role in the counterattack. On the night of 14/15 July 1942, the Pavia along with the Brescia Division put up a stubborn defence "While the attacking brigades had been able to cut large gaps through the defences held y the Italian infantry, they had not been able to subdue all the resistance. Not surprisingly, most of the smaller outposts and defended localities had fallen easily but some of the larger posts had been bypassed during the night. The outposts which remained contained substantial number of anti-tank guns, machine guns and infantry. When daylight came, these posts were able to cover the area south of the ridge by fire and shot up any trucks foolhardy enough to drive forward."' Pendulum Of War: Three Battles at El Alamein, Niall Barr, p. 131, Random House, 2010on Ruweisat Ridge, allowing "On the right, Indian 5th Division (XXX Corps) attacked Point 64 on the centre of the feature, the New Zealand Division (XIII Corps) was on the left attacking Point 63 at the western end of the ridge and the 1st Armoured Division gave support along the line of the inter-corps boundary. The night attack was preceded by Albacore aircraft dropping flares and fighter-bombers strafing the enemy lines. At first both divisions made good progress as they fought their way through the Italian Brescia and Pavia Divisions who were holding the ridge. The advance slowed down when they met extensive minefields and there was some loss of cohesion when the New Zealanders were attacked by tanks from 8th Panzer Regiment of 15th Panzer Division and lost 350 prisoners." El Alamein 1942: The Turning of the Tide, Ken Ford, p. 42, Osprey Publishing, 2005 German armoured and motorized infantry units to arrive in the morning day and deliver a counterattack, defeating the attacking New Zealand infantry and supporting British armour. Captain Amalio Stagni and Corporal Ugo Vaia from the Pavia would each posthumously win the Medaglia d'Argento al Valore Militare for their leadership during the night action on Ruweisat. During the Second Battle of El Alamein, one battalion from the Pavia Division fought alongside the Folgore Parachute Division. At the end of the battle, the Pavia along with the other two divisions from the Italian 10th Corps were abandoned without transport as the remnants of the Afrika Korps retreated from Alamein to Fuka and Mersa Matruh on 4 November 1942. At Mersa Matruh, where several of the survivors of the Pavia had regrouped (including its commander), the remnants of the division were cornered and forced to surrender.Axis Runs References Category:Units Category:Italian Units